Passive wireless electronics detection system

ABSTRACT

A passive wireless electronics detection system is disclosed having one or more radio antenna assemblies able to receive digital data from a wireless electronic device located within a predetermined range, and storage associated with the radio antenna assemblies for storing at least some of the digital data received. The storage is through connection to the internet, or can be local to the antenna assemblies. The digital data includes wireless device meta-data such as the device name, MAC address, BSSID, previous Wi-Fi networks connected to, etc. A device listing is complied through frequency of detection or user input, and an alert may be triggered when an unexpected device is detected, which can then be sent to one or more digital devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention refers in general to the field of text messaging,and more particularly, to a bidirectional group text messaging systemand method.

Description of Related Art

Group text messaging generally falls into one of two types. The first iswhen one user sends the same text message to more than one recipient atthe same time. The group then consists of all the recipients and theinitial sender. Any recipient can then respond to that message and sendtheir response to the group. Entering and leaving a messaging groupusing common SMS protocols and tools is an inconsistent and at timeschallenging or even impossible endeavor depending on the phone typebeing used. In addition, all members of the group are only informed ofnew members or reduced members by an update in the ‘to’ field that maybe a large list of individuals that is difficult to track. Whenutilizing the native reply from a home screen this is invisibleentirely, making a potential reply to an unwanted user possible orfacilitating a message in a reply with individuals missing from theconversation. Security issues often arise when texting confidentialinformation to make sure such information is not shared with a member nolonger in the group. These systems also often require that each memberof the group know the identity by at least the phone number of everyother member in the group. No levels of logging or delivery confirmationbeyond a screenshot of a phone screen are available making traditionaltext messaging the most efficient method of communicating, but one thatis not usable in an environment that requires structure, reliability andsecurity.

Another typical group text messaging system involves a user that sendsthe same message to more than one recipient and hides each recipient'sinformation from all recipients. In this instance, each recipient isunable to send a text message to the group or any member thereof, as allgroup member information is kept hidden from each member. Although eachmember can respond to the initial user's text message, these systems aredesigned in a one-to-many model that is not useable in bidirectionalcommunications.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improvedbidirectional group texting messaging system.

It is a related object of the present invention to provide an improvedbidirectional group text messaging system that more easily facilitatesone or more members of the group joining or leaving the group withoutthe need to other members to know the status or identification of eachgroup member.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improvedbidirectional group text messaging system such that each member of thegroup does not need to know the identity of all other members of thegroup.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, animproved bidirectional group texting messaging system comprises a groupowner that initiates a group by obtaining a provisioned telephonenumber, the group owner establishes a list of group members usingidentifying information for each group member; and text messages fromany group member are sent to the provisioned telephone number and fromthat provisioned telephone number sent to each group member; wherein thegroup members' identifying information is not available to any othergroup member except the group owner.

In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, a bidirectional group text messaging system comprises threeor more group members, each having a device that can send or receivetext messages, one or more provisioned phone numbers and a list of groupmembers using identifying information for each group member, wherebytext messages from any group member are sent to the provisionedtelephone number and from that provisioned telephone number sent to eachgroup member such that the group members' identifying information is notavailable to any other group member except the group owner.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the followingdescriptions, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,wherein, by way of illustration and example, embodiments of the presentinvention are disclosed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The novel features believed to be characteristic of the invention areset forth in the appended claims and claims yet to be filed. However,the invention itself, as well as a preferred mode of use and furtherobjectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by referenceto the following detailed description when read in conjunction with theaccompanying Figures wherein:

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the process of creating a group in theimproved bidirectional group texting messaging system in accordance witha preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the process of forwarding a message inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation and member experience of theimproved bidirectional group texting messaging system in accordance witha preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing provisioning of numbers according to analternate embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Detailed descriptions of the preferred embodiments are provided herein.It is to be understood, however, that the present invention may beembodied in various forms. Therefore, specific details disclosed hereinare not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for theclaims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the artto employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailedsystem, structure or manner

Turning first to FIG. 1, there is shown a flowchart of the improvedbidirectional group texting messaging system in accordance with apreferred embodiment of the present invention. In the illustratedembodiment, group owner 12 is the group member responsible forestablishing the initial members of a group, as well as any additions ordeletions of members to the group after initialization, wherein eachgroup member has a device and a specific identification information toallow the device to receive/transmit text messages. Initialization ofthe group by group owner 12 includes establishing the members of thegroup where each member's contact information including each members'phone number or other device specific information that allows receipt ortransmittal of a text message. In the preferred embodiment, group owner12 will employ an interface 14. This may be web-oriented, mobileapplication, desktop plugin, desktop client or third party applicationinterfacing through an Application Programmable Interface (API). Groupowner 12 will enter each group member's device identificationinformation. At this initialization stage, group owner 12 will provisionone or more virtual phone numbers. For the following example, a singleprovisioned phone number will be used to describe the system and method,and all group members will have identification information for the samecountry, and the United States will be used.

By adding members to the group either at creation time 16, or later,group owner 12 will initiate an automated process that will in practice,send an initial text message 18, to each member of the group, welcomingthe members. Group owner 12 is identified as member number 1 in theillustrated embodiment at 15, though other practices may be employed.The text message being sent may also be referred to as the source textmessage, and the member from which the text message is sent may bereferred to as the member sourcing the text message. Other informationmay also be included in initial text message 18, such as how theprocedure for viewing all other member aliases in the group or controlcodes for things like removal or other administrative requests. Thephone number provisioned by group owner 12 will carry with it necessaryinformation so that any text message received at that provisioned numberwill be re-transmitted to each member of the group. Each member of thegroup will receive a text message from the provisioned phone number. Inthis way, each member will not know all members of the group, nor willeach member have the identifying information of other members of thegroup. Accordingly, improved security will result. Of course, groupowner 12 will have the group members' information.

Because group owner 12 may also add or delete one or more members at anytime, security is also enhanced in that potentially confidentialinformation is not inadvertently shared with a member that should nolonger be in the group even though not all members need be aware of whena member enters or leaves the group.

Turning next to FIG. 2, there is shown a flowchart illustrating messageforwarding as in the preferred embodiment of the invention. Each groupmember may respond to a received text message as it will appear from theprovisioned number rather than the number of the original or sourcesender. The responsive text message 21 will then be sent to theprovisioned phone number at step 23, which in turn, will re-transmit thetext message to each group member at steps 25-37, described in moredetail below. Alternately, each group member may send a text message 21to the provisioned phone number 23, i.e., not as a responsive textmessage. Again, the text message 21 received at the provisioned phonenumber 23 will re-transmit the text message to each member of the group37.

It will be appreciated that a group member may receive their own textmessage. Alternately, logic may be employed whereby the indentifyingmember information of the member sending the text message may be checkedagainst the set of members receiving the text message and in the eventthe sending member is the same as one receiving member, that particulartext message may be not sent to the member sourcing the text message 33.This is best thought of as echo elimination, as the sender already hasrecord of the message in the chat log of their device.

Because a provisioned phone number is often a valid phone number for aminimum specified time period, e.g., a month, but may be renewed, groupsestablished in the present invention may be established and exist for ashort period of time, or may be extended as needed. In addition, becausegroup owner 12 may add and delete members, in the illustratedembodiment, one group may be established with a provisioned phonenumber, and at a later time, substantially all the group members may bedeleted, and a substantially different group member population may beestablished, thereby having two or more successive groups on the sameprovisioned phone number within the minimal time the provisioned phonenumber exists, thereby reducing costs for multiple, successive textmessaging groups.

The present invention may also be employed with group members from morethan one country. In such a situation, additional fees apply in sendingtext messages. Alternately, a separate phone number may be provisionedin one or more additional countries in which group members will receiveor send text messages. In such a case, the system can detect from and towhich members' device the text message is to be sent or received androut the text message through the least expensive path. Additionalprovisioned phone numbers may also be used in a group. One exampleincludes a provisioned phone number for each of a set number of groupmembers, such as a separate number for every five group members. In sucha situation, logic will detect the sourcing member and retransmit to theappropriate provisioned phone number or numbers to then re-transmit toeach group member.

In the preferred embodiment, there is also a billing member. The billingmember may also be a group member, but mostly for the purpose ofmaintaining costing and billing management. For example, for each textmessage received by the provisioned phone number to be re-transmitted tothe group members, a value may be assigned based on the length of thetext message, and any translation services, as well as the number andlocation of group members. This information may be maintained and avalue billed to a customer for whom the bidirectional group textmessaging system was established. Alternate ways of accounting for thesystem use may be employed. Examples include those based on number oftimes used, number of members in a group or length of time the group isactive.

In the preferred embodiment, the system will maintain a message log filethat may provide message details useful to the group owner. These systemlogs may contain message content and delivery information that mayinclude time, date, deliver, and read confirmation information.

In the preferred embodiment, the system may offer language translationservices if configured. Members may be set with languages differing fromthe default. When these are set, the system may be configured totranslate transparently and bidirectional per member. In practice in theillustrated embodiment, group owner 12 upon entering a member to thegroup 16, may identify a language of preference to receive textmessages. If a text message is sourced in a language other than themember's preferred language, upon receipt, and before re-transmittingfrom the pun phone number, the text message may be translated into thegroup member's preferred language by any number of available translationprograms.

Turning next to FIG. 3, there is shown a representation of group memberoperational experience as described above. It will be appreciated thatthe system and method described herein may be useful on a variety ofdevices and platforms including, but not limited to, cell phones such asthose using the iPhone or Android operating systems, mobile web devices,web GUIs, Outlook plugins, and API to third party applications. It willalso be appreciated that the illustrated embodiment may be applied toboth text messages including characters, and also text messagesincluding images. Further, as is well known in the field, the textmessage or SMS message is converted to TCPIP for purposes oftransmitting and receiving.

In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, external senders,i.e., those not a member of the group, will not be permitted on thesystem. For those that want to participate, they would need to be agroup member, but marked ‘silent’ without permission to send a textmessage to the group.

To facilitate a fastest delivery of SMS messages, each member of a groupwill be provisioned a unique number within the group. These numbers maybe used repeatedly in other groups and will use a matching algorithm todetect the identity of the sender and incoming number to know who issending and to what group. These numbers will be reused, but neverreissued to the same specific user, regardless of how many groups ofwhich they re a member.

In this example a member group is created on the system, which causesthe system to provision multiple numbers from the carrier and assignthem, one to each. When a member sends a message, the incoming devicenumber and provisioned number combination identify to the system whatgroups is to receive the message.

Once a group member is assigned a provisioned number it remains stickyto that user even if they have been deleted from a group. Should theuser be recreated at a later date they will received the previouslyassigned number. In the illustrated embodiment, no user will receive agroup number already assigned to themselves should they be added toanother group. In this exemplar embodiment, unique device andprovisioned number combination must exist for all users system wide.

As shown in FIG. 4, the system will look to reuse numbers available inthe system before requesting the provisioning of a new number from thecarrier cloud. Assigned provisioned numbers will be monitored for usageactivity as a determining factor for provisioning. The provisionednumber, rather than a group's activity, is monitored for thisdetermination. The system will keep a running monitor for each numberfor the previous 128 hours, for example, at step 39. If the peak numberof messages for a number exceeds 30 messages in a 60 second interval,the number will not be provision-able at that time. The system will alsotest to remove numbers already assigned within the group at step 41,remove numbers of members already assigned in other groups at step 43,remove non-county code matches at step 45, and check for lowest previous128 hour peek 1 minute usage at step 47, in determining the appropriatenumber to provision.

While the invention has been described in connection with preferredembodiments, it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention tothe particular forms set forth, but on the contrary, it is intended tocover such alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may beincluded within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by theappended claims, and claims that may issue.

1. A wireless electronics detection system comprising: a. one or moreradio antenna assemblies able to passively receive digital data from oneor more wireless electronic devices located within a predetermined rangewithout checking the registration status of the wireless device; b.storage associated with the one or more radio antenna assemblies forstoring at least some of the digital data received.
 2. A wirelesselectronics detection system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the storageis through connection to the internet.
 3. A wireless electronicsdetection system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the storage is local tothe one or more radio antenna assemblies.
 4. A wireless electronicsdetection system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the digital data includeswireless device meta-data.
 5. A wireless electronics detection system asclaimed in claim 1 wherein an alert is triggered when an unexpectedelectronic device digital data is received.
 6. A wireless electronicsdetection system as claimed in claim 5 wherein the alert is sent to oneor more digital devices.
 7. A wireless electronics detection system asclaimed in claim 5 wherein the one or more radio antenna assemblies canactivate one or more cameras or lights upon an alert being triggered. 8.A wireless electronics detection system as claimed in claim 1 whereinthe one or more antenna assemblies are further able to detect a wirelesselectronic device signal strength to estimate distance from the one ormore antenna assemblies.
 9. A wireless electronics detection system asclaimed in claim 1 wherein the system builds an expected wirelesselectronic device listing through frequency of detection or user input.10. A wireless electronics detection system as claimed in claim 1further comprising: two or more antenna assemblies able to determinewireless electronic device location.
 11. A wireless electronicsdetection system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising: a globalpositioning system providing wireless electronic device time andlocation information.
 12. A wireless electronics detection system asclaimed in claim 4 wherein the wireless electronic device meta-dataincludes one or more of the following: Device name, MAC address,previous wireless networks connected to, BSSID, time and dateinformation is detected.
 13. A wireless electronics detection system asclaimed in claim 1 wherein the radio antenna assemblies are configurablefor one or more username binding.